With Turkish Support, Kurds In Iraq Strike at Rebel Bases

Published: October 7, 1992

ZAKHO, Iraq, Oct. 6—
Iraqi Kurds backed by Turkish fighter planes are carrying out a major military offensive to drive Turkish Kurdish separatists from their guerrilla bases in northern Iraq, senior Kurdish military officials say.

The operation, which began on Friday, stretches the length of northern Iraq's mountain border with Turkey, from Syria to Iran. Military officials estimated that about 10,000 Iraqi Kurdish guerrillas had surrounded rebels of the Turkish Kurdistan Workers' Party and cut their supply lines.

The Turkish Kurds use bases in northern Iraq to stage attacks in southern Turkey, where they have been fighting for self-rule since 1984. Retaliatory raids by Turkish Government jets on northern Iraqi villages suspected of aiding the separatists have sometimes caused casualties among Iraqi Kurdish civilians, sharpening the tensions between the two Kurdish groups.